Learning Science Through Technology
Newsletter for February 2002
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WEB SITE NEWS
Now The Long Haul
January can be tough. The holidays are over, It's back to school and back to work. There's no Daylight Savings Time to cheer us up in the afternoon. In many places it's the cold of winter. By now many of the resolutions we made are falling by the wayside. Resolutions can be a good thing. Instead I like to make a plan.
A plan let's you set a goal, like a resolution, but it provides a path and a way to hopefully achieve that goal. Last year we hit some of our goals, but not all of them. But that's okay. We have a lot of plans for ScienceMaster this year. This year it will be the same- we'll hit some goals and not others. I bring this up because so many of us allow the path of learning to be defined for us as students, parents and teachers by others. That's fine for the most part, our school books and lesson plans provide a blueprint, but some of the best learning comes through self-learning and self-discovery. You make a plan, set a goal and move forward. The Internet can be an enriching environment for self-learning. On ScienceMaster we provide the tools and resources for learning and discovery. That's why we keep saying that learning should be fun. It satisfies a person's curiosity about the world around us. You set out on a course, set your own pace and absorb information that complements the structured environment of school. You'll be a better student, a better teacher. So if you're finding those resolutions slipping away, why not try to set a goal to spend a few minutes each day following your curiosity and discovering more about the world we live in.
Image courtesy National Weather Service
Personal Web Page - Kenneth A. Wesson
We're excited to be hosting our first Home Page. Our good friend and ScienceMaster writer and columnist Ken Wesson now has his own Home Page on ScienceMaster. Ken's focus is the science of learning and the brain. Now you can view more of his papers, his speaking schedule and his bio. Take a look and tell us what you think, or better yet drop Ken a note. We hope to have more Home Pages up soon. We believe it helps put a face on our site. Ken's Home Page is here --> http://www.ScienceMaster.com/wesson/home.php
Science Dictionaries and Glossaries
Need to know what an alkali alcoholate is? Or how about the sternomastoid? Here's the first place to look, --> http://www.ScienceMaster.com/tech/item/dictionaries.php And don't miss our own Glossaries. Go to our Physical Science Home Page and you'll be there.
It's Science Fair Time
It's that time again. Science Fair time. You know the routine by now, pick a topic, think up a hypothesis, design your experiment, get it to work, make a project board and cart it all to school. With a little bit of research you can make a boring, ho-hum project something that gets everybody talking. Remember, it's not just fancy projects that get the judges' attention. We've seen many winners cobble together this and that from around the house and come up with a first rate project. Here are some ideas, some links and other things to get those mental juices --> http://www.ScienceMaster.com/tech/item/science_fair.php
Learning Galleries - Jupiter and Saturn
Can you have a favorite planet? If you can then mine have always been Saturn and Jupiter. One has rings and one dwarfs all the others. They are colorful, have a bunch of moons and might well be the reason there is life on Earth. Look this one up -- some scientists theorize that because of their hugh gravitational fields, they clean the solar system of asteroids, comets and the like. Remember Shoemaker Levy? Take a look at our two newest Learning Galleries of my favorite two planets. --> http://www.monkeytime.com/sciencemaster/galleries/galleries.php
SCIENCE NEWS AND LINKS
Solar Max
Every 11 years solar activity reaches a fever pitch with solar flares, coronal mass ejections, and instability in the Sun's magnetic field. It's a turbulent time called Solar Max. The most recent (and ongoing) Solar Max crested in mid-2000. One remarkable eruption on July 14, 2000 -- the so-called "Bastille Day Event" -- sparked brilliant auroras as far south as Texas, caused electrical brown-outs, and temporarily disabled some satellites. After that, sunspot counts slowly declined and the Sun was relatively quiet for month-long stretches. Solar Max was subsiding. But now, as 2002 unfolds, it's back. The Sun is again peppered with spots, and eruptions are frequent. Says David Hathaway, a solar physicist at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center: "The current solar cycle appears to be double-peaked," and the second peak has arrived. (Full Story)
NOAA's Marine Sanctuaries Web Site
If you are looking for information about our nation's marine sanctuaries -- their history and current management and their scientific and educational programs, then this collection of sites, thirteen in all, is for you. A national calendar will keep you updated on the many exciting events that take place in them throughout the year.
Within the 13 sites, you'll discover a vast range of marine creatures, habitats, historical artifacts, and flourishing maritime cultures. In one site you'll find the breeding and calving grounds of giant humpback whales, in another the remains of an 18th century shipwreck, and in yet another thriving coral reef colonies or kelp forests. We enjoyed learning about the Sustainable Seas Expeditions, a five-year project of underwater exploration focusing on our national marine sanctuaries. Also, don't miss the photo gallery with some striking images of the undersea world. --> www.sanctuaries.nos.noaa.gov/
Photo Credit: Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Volcano Activity in the Congo - Nyiragongo Erupts
Mount Nyiragongo, located in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, erupted at approximately 9:30 AM local time on January 17, 2002, ejecting a large cloud of smoke and ash high into the sky and sending lava down multiple sides of the volcano. One headed toward the city of Goma, 18 kilometers to the south near the Congo's border with Rwanda. (For a map, click HERE). A fourth fissure opened at 4:00 PM on January 17. The area had been experiencing tremors intermittently since March 2001. The lava flows damaged 14 villages as they destroyed everything in their paths including, buildings, homes, and the port in Goma. Debris effected the local airport and caused mass movements of the local population. The current estimate of the number of people displaced by the volcano is 248,000, according to government sources. USAID/OFDA field reports. USAID/OFDA has made $3 million available for relief assistance in response to the Goma volcano.
The most recent eruption of Mt. Nyiragongo was in 1977, when the lava flow covered 20 square kilometers. killed 2,000 people, and destroyed 400 houses and a 10-kilometer section of road.
Photo Credit: USGS Photo by Peter W. Lipman, August 7, 1980. Note image does not depict the Nyiragongo Eruption.
The e-Skeletons Project
Remember those books with the plastic overlays that let you explore the human body?* The bottom layer was always the skeleton. Add a few layers and you have a pretty interesting fellow. Now those same learning tools have come to the Internet. "The e-Skeletons Project web site enables you to view the bones of a human, gorilla, and baboon and gather information about morphological and muscular features of the skeleton." The site is replete with interactive pages that allow the user to click on various skeletal features and view overlays displaying muscle points and other features. Some of the pages load slowly but it is well worth it. We all enjoyed this site very much. Includes a glossary and a self-test. --> http://www.eskeletons.org/
*Teachers and Parents will remember!
Cool
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute has a really cool site for young children. Not surprisingly it's called Cool Science For Curious Kids. The goal of this site is simple - to help children appreciate science. And you can't go wrong with that. The editors have carefully reviewed science projects from national museums and adapted them for the web. There are both online activities and activities to do at home or in school.
The project was developed by five well-known children science museums; the Children's Discovery Museum, San Jose, the Chicago Academy of Sciences, the Children's Museum of Boston, Scotia-Glenville Children's Museum, and the Minnesota Children's Museum. "The object is to make science fun, practical, and realistic."
--> http://www.hhmi.org/coolscience/index.html
Quote of the Month
Well It is Actually A Poem
Big whirls have little whirls,
That feed on their velocity;
And little whirls have lesser whirls,
And so on to viscosity.
Lewis Fry Richardson
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